World News

The 2018 Winter Olympics marks the beginning of a new, concerted effort to build the relationship between the Vatican and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). As in the past, the IOC
invited the Vatican to send delegates to represent the nation. The Vatican obliged as a gesture of goodwill and show of their support for reconciliation between North and South Korea. Monsignor
Melchor Sánchez de Toca, Undersecretary and Head of the Culture and Sports Section for the Pontifical Council for Culture and a former pentathlete, was designated the official delegate. The
ceremony was also attended by Stefano Calvigioni, a member of the Italian Olympic Committee who has also worked with the Vatican.

On February 6, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Pope Paul VI. The approval of the second miracle was the last step in the
process of his canonization—all that is left is for Pope Francis to officially decree his approval and set a date.

This February 14, Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday, Nikolas Cruz walked into Marjory Douglass High School in Parkland, Florida and killed at least seventeen people, with many more injured. This
horrific event has prompted response from those across the United States as well as a global response to the massacre of innocent lives. A day devoted to the celebration of love and the beginning
of Lent turned into one of horror and mourning. The shooting was the third largest school shooting in the history of the United States.

The United States has faced a particularly dire flu season this winter, with the number of cases rising weekly from November into February. All regions of the country have reported
higher-than-normal levels of flu activity, according to the CDC, with the expected total of hospitalizations reaching the hundreds of thousands. The peak seems to be leveling off, though
officials warn the flu will still continue to circulate in the weeks to come.

Aboard the papal flight to Lima, Peru,
Pope Francis apologized for comments made in Iquique, Chile concerning victims of clergy sex abuse. He says that he now realizes that he unknowingly wounded the victims.

The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Pietro Cardinal Parolin, has asked Bishop Peter Zhuang Jianjian of Shantou, China,
to retire in order to allow a government-approved bishop to take his place. Bishop Zhuang has refused the request.

In early December, Pope Francis concluded a diplomatically-tricky visit to Asia, where he visited the countries of Myanmar and Bangladesh. Many
people apprehensively watched the trip to see whether he would speak out about the controversial term “Rohingya.” The Rohingya, who are described as “the world’s most persecuted minority,” are a
Muslim ethnic group who have lived for centuries in the majority-Buddhist Myanmar. Nearly all of the Rohingya in Myanmar live in the extremely poor state of Rakhine and are not allowed to leave
without government permission. Several governments, including the United Sates, have declared the recent violence against the Rohingya to be an act of ethnic cleansing, an accusation which the
military has denied. Due to their ongoing persecution, over 600,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee the Rakhine State towards neighboring Bangladesh, where they are denied refugee
status.

Though it is impossible to procure exact numbers (most estimates range between 25 and 46 million), it is understood that the amount of people in slavery is likely at an all-time high. Not only
that, but it is a growing industry. According to the International Labor Organization, human trafficking is a $150 billion-a-year industry. Recognizing this crisis as an attack on human dignity
and a grave moral crime, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences hosted a workshop with the Global Alliance for Legal Aid. The workshop brought together human trafficking survivors, clergy,
religious, and international lawyers all focused on one common goal: the eradication of human trafficking. The goal of the workshop was to formulate a “Victims Charter”, a document that would
clearly lay out the rights that victims have and give a framework for reintegration into society. The founder of the Global Alliance for Legal aid, a US based association of lawyers that provides
legal help to third world countries, talked about the need to focus on helping victims after they are liberated as well as before. She was quoted in an article by Catholic News Agency as
asking, “How is this person going to restart their life?”, noting that victims are often left with a “slew of problems” such as mental trauma, physical impairments, poor education and lack of
employable skills.